Every Time
by TheGirlTwoDoorsDown
Summary: Every time Tony looked at Peter, he saw Julian, his lost son. A story of finding family a little bit at a time.
1. Tony Stark Looked at Peter

Every Time

by: TheGirlTwoDoorsDown

* * *

Every time Tony Stark looked at Peter, he saw Julian.

Julian Edward Davis was born 3 AM September 12th 2001 to Elena Marsha Davis and Anthony Edward Stark at Mass General Hospital. Tony wasn't there for the birth much like how he wasn't there for the pregnancy. It wasn't anything personal, but when Elena told him about the life growing inside of her, they both agreed that he could be a fun uncle, but he shouldn't take responsibility as a parent. They mutually decided that he shouldn't get attached and therefore, attending his birth wasn't necessary. Tony was in California now and that was a long way to travel for a person who he wasn't really going to be invested in this baby besides financial support. It was also, the day after 9/11 and everyone was in grief. Tragedy had befallen the United States and a child being born wasn't going to change that. Rhodes was sobbing and Tony was drinking his troubles away. This wasn't to say that Julian came into the world alone. Elena gave birth surrounded by her family and friends. Her mother and stepfather were looking at Julian in her arms and cooing at their first grandchild who they would be happy to sneak sweets when Elena said no. Elena's sister took photos with her fancy camera of Julian's face squished against his mother's chest. When Julian Anthony Davis came into the world, his biological father wasn't there, but that didn't matter, because he was loved.

Elena texted the photos that her sister took to Tony's private phone. He appreciated them, but it probably would have been better if he didn't know what the kid looked like at all if he wanted to not be a big part of their life. Elena countered that uncles know what their nephews look like. Every week at least she'd send him an update. It was definitely for the best that Tony was removed from their immediate family life as he was still really dependent on alcohol, he partied too hard, and while working kept the worst sleep schedule. Besides, what good role model had the nickname 'the merchant of death'. He agreed to pay for everything the kid needed, but it was wisest for him not to be emotionally there. Tony was addicted at 16 years old and the kid didn't need that riding on his shoulders. Also the press would be a bitch if they found out, so it really was best that Tony wasn't involved.

Elena and Tony met at MIT. She was entering her freshman year while he was a junior so they were actually the same age. He knew who to buy cocaine from and she knew where to get the best weed so they were friends. Whenever they would hang out, Tony would try to get her into the harder stuff by saying she should live a little, while she would try and get him to use the less harmful things saying that he should live longer. She always won as they hung out in her room and all she had was either weed or alcohol so the two of them settled on getting cross-faded. She would always try and get him to see a therapist for his emotional issues, but Tony was too prideful to admit that he couldn't solve his emotional problems like they were calculus. She would then talk about her biological dad and Tony would feel guilty for complaining about Howard.

After he graduated, they lost touch. Tony had a company to run and keeping in touch with college friends wasn't high on his list of things to do. It was New Year's Eve when he saw her again. There was a massive new millennium party thrown for all the tech giants. Stark Industries wasn't a tech company yet, but they invested heavily in Google and Apple so he got an invitation. Elena came in wearing an elegant floor length black gown with a slit up the side; hair pin straight down her back. She looked very different from Tony's memories of her in a sweatshirt with her curly hair starting to dread by itself in the back. He struck up a conversation and it felt so natural. One thing led to another and Julian Davis came into the world nine months later.

He only met the kid once. He was in Boston for a company meeting and was taking a break grabbing a bite to eat at sit-down chain restaurant when Elena and a 4-year-old who clung to her leg walked in. Tony noticed her a couple seconds before she noticed him, but they both had the same reaction to freeze and contemplate pretending this never happened. Eventually, she walked over and said hi to Tony. She introduced the kid behind her as her son Julian and tried to get Julian to shake Tony's hand. The kid ran behind his mother's legs and tried to become invisible. She apologized and said that Julian had a difficult time with new people. Then she started telling Tony about Julian sobbed and clung to her leg on his first day of kindergarten. He was an utter momma's boy. While she was telling Tony about their upcoming trip to Disneyworld, Tony couldn't help but look at the kid and see what he got from which parent. The brown curly hair and the lips were definitely his mother's. The jaw and the eyes were his. The ears were from Howard Stark. The kid had his grandmother's hands. Tony didn't know Elena's parents, but that's probably where the eyebrows and the knobby knees came from. The waiter came over and gave a children's menu with a box of crayons and the kid grabbed the blue crayon with his chubby hand and drew blue trains all over the menu. The kid showed Elena his masterpiece. She found some way to compliment the awful art and the kid's face lit up. Elena asked Julian to tell Tony about Thomas the Tank Engine and the kid went on and on about the size of the axels and why trains used to be colorful and how much he loved the Thomas movie. Tony was absolutely mesmerized.

Then Julian got kidnapped. They were in line to buy churros in front of the Cinderella castle because Julian had been incessantly begging for one and Elena felt like treating her son as they were on vacation. One-minute Julian was hanging onto her finger, the next he was gone and a stranger was walking away. Elena ran to tell the nearest employee to try and find her missing son. Apparently, kidnapping happens a lot at Disneyworld. She never saw him again. Sobbing in the security office of the happiest place on Earth, she called Tony and told him what happened. She said he deserved to know. Tony knew that Elena was shrewd and would call the person with a moral obligation to help protect her child and the money to track him down. Tony had Pepper call a PI immediately to get on the case, but they never found anything. Every week Elena would ask Tony if anything had been found until Tony just asked the PI to update her personally. Her constant asking was sympathetic, but annoying so he removed himself from being the middle man. He fell out of her life once more.

It was really bad, but Tony had forgotten about Julian and Elena until Afghanistan. It had been five years and he didn't have time to be sad about his child who he wasn't the dad of anyway. He drank and partied and invented things. Women came in and out of his life like a revolving door and he was okay with it. He made stuff that blew up and then got paid the bid bucks for it. He was living the good life. Then he got kidnapped and then Yinsen raised questions that Tony didn't really want to answer. He technically had a family, but he didn't set aside anything but money for them. He had a son that was kidnapped, his baby momma who he hasn't talked to since the kidnapping, Rhodes, Obadiah, and Pepper. Only three of those people he actually talked to. Then Obadiah tried to kill him and the number went down to two.

God, he regretted not getting to know Julian when he had the chance. His only interaction with the kid was a short meal where the kid hid from him because he didn't know who his deadbeat dad was. He hasn't actually held a conversation with his son. It pained Tony to admit it, but he was worse than Howard. Way worse than Howard. At least Tony's dad made the bare minimum effort of physically admitting he was his kid's father. Tony couldn't at least do that. He had to excommunicate his offspring out of his life instead of doing the responsible thing and trying to be somewhat involved. And then he let his own child get kidnapped and taken to god knows where. If Tony had been there, maybe the kid wouldn't have been taken. The person wouldn't have tried to mess with him rather than a single mother. Julian would still be around and with his family. The guilt ate at him like maggots in a bullet wound.

When Tony learned that the vigilante in Queens in sweatshirt and sweatpants was a teenager he was surprised. They just keep getting younger and younger. When he realized that the spider-kid was Julian's age, he felt that sense of responsibility rear its irritating head around, and he had to make sure this idiotic teenager was safe. He made him a fancy superhero suit with way too many features for the kid to possibly use for the next couple of years. There was an AI, a heater, a parachute, a GPS tracker, and an instant kill feature: all of them just to make sure the stupid kid made it back to his aunt's the next day. She made the effort to get to know and parent a kid that wasn't hers. It was the least Tony could do to make that kid get home safe.

When Tony Stark first laid eyes on Peter, he saw Julian. He just couldn't help it. Peter looked so much like the aged-up photo of Julian that for a split-second Tony wondered whether this random kid in Queens was his long-lost biological son. They had the same eyes, nose, jaw, and eyebrow. It was very freakish. Should he tell Elena about this kid that had her cheekbones and slightly curled hair? Then, he snapped back to reality and lied to his aunt and convinced a teenager to go to Germany to fight half of the Avengers.

What a role model.

Tony desperately wanted to be a part of this kid's life, but it was never meant to be. He desperately to fix his mistakes with this kid. Maybe if he raised Peter right Julian could forgive him. Maybe if treated Peter like he wish he treated Julian everything would be fine and his heart would stop feeling so heavy whenever he saw the kids face. He didn't need his therapist to tell him that using a random kid an emotional substitute for the kid he couldn't bother to raise was unhealthy. The therapist did tell him that though. Turns out Elena was right that shrinks weren't just wasted money.

Then of course after the battle in the airport the kid had the bright idea to quit all of his classes and go superhero full time. Then he chased down an alien arms dealer, jumped off of the Washington Monument, and then lied to him about not going after said arms dealer ruining an FBI sting operation. So, Tony took back the suit. He felt like a parent scolding a child for the first time in his life. God, that's was a really unhealthy emotion for him to be feeling towards this kid. He is not their father and never will be. Then Tony gave the suit back because the kid saved the plane and actually took down the bad guy. He wasn't Peter's actual parent so he could get away with rewarding some reckless yet noble behavior. The next day he got an earful from Peter's hot aunt about how she's appalled at his behavior. He knows that it's ridiculous to think that way, but he can't help but feel like she's implying how bad of a father he would be to his son even if he did have the chance to raise him. They agreed to limit the amount of superhero hours and that Peter has to restart all of his extracurricular activities. She also manages to get a real Stark internship out of it. Tony admired her for her foresight. An internship from a fortune 500 in high school looks damn good on a college application.

Tony set up an interview with the head of the engineering department who was charmed by the sweet boy immediately. He may have been getting a lot of coffee, but he also got to have a first look at all of the medical and energy technology they were creating and have a hand at improving it. Tony and Pepper were visiting the New York offices while Peter was working. They just wanted to personally check in and see what each office was doing. They did the customary greeting and did the boring stuff and almost moved on. He overheard Peter talking to the engineering head about how he made a wrist shooter to be like Spiderman. When Peter's boss asked for more info, Peter's face lit up just like Julian's when the little boy got to go on and on about the history of Thomas and whatever his coach cars' names were.

Every time Tony Stark looked at Peter, he saw Julian, and that just wasn't fair to Peter. It wasn't fair to look at someone and saddle them with the expectations and dreams of a lost child. Peter wasn't Julian and Peter already had a family. A small one, but a family nonetheless and Tony didn't need to intrude on someone else's life.


	2. Elena Past By a Boy With Brown Hair

Chapter 2

Elena Walked Past a Boy With Brown Hair

* * *

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son.

It had been 11 years since her eldest son was kidnapped and she saw him every day. One block he'd be walking down the street in a supreme sweatshirt and the next day he'd be wearing Ralph Lauren and touring college campuses. He walked around her in lab coats, in construction gear, in the Pret A Manger, and at Valvoline. Julian would be wearing his little brother's clothes while doing homework in his little brother's room. Elena saw her lost boy everywhere and every time she saw him the knife in her heart twisted. He was like a ghost: everywhere and nowhere at the same time. During the day she'd forget about Julian and put him to the back of her mind. If she thought about his toys packed away in a clear bin in her parent's basement, then she wouldn't be able to function. Forgetting was surviving. Besides, she was on the board of directors of the Magellan Corporation and that took up a lot of her time. There wasn't room in her life for sadness except for the little moments where it would all come rushing back. It was like he went missing all over again. It wasn't the healthiest, but it was worked for her.

She always wondered how Tony took the whole situation. He was an ass, but one that was more deeply affected by things than he cared to admit. No one outside of a small few knew that Julian and Tony were even related so he didn't get pity everywhere he turned. Pity gets boring after a while. Tony did pay for a private investigator as she invested all of her money in the startup that became Magellan as well as paying for her younger son's, Christopher's, daycare. God knows that was absurdly expensive. The PI may have been due to her begging, but it at least showed that he cared somewhat. Knowing Tony, his method of handling this was destructive and probably related to liquor. Maybe he had put Julian out of his mind as she had. They always seemed to have similar coping mechanisms. She and Tony were kindred spirits of a sort: hurt children who solved their issues in unhealthy ways. The main difference was that she never had that famous of a dad and she found actual solutions instead of Band-Aid after Band-Aid. She also had her family and close friends to support her. Tony had no one.

Elena knew she'd been thinking more about Tony because she had to temporarily move to New York for the branch opening. The building had been built and now here she was making it actually function for the company. She rented one of the brownstones off of 45th avenue in Long Island City so she could be close to work but nearby enough to public transportation as driving and parking in Manhattan was a pain in the ass. The house was large enough to feel empty with only two people in it; truly a rarity in New York. One of her good friends from high school lived in Manhattan and they were going to catch up, but the house was awfully depressing without people and some good lighting. She needed to hire an electrician to change the lightbulbs to some warm LEDs.

Christopher wasn't very happy about the move, to put it mildly. He had just completed his first semester at Newton South High School and then he had to change schools. He already felt awkward and out of place when Elena decided to have him skip a grade. Making him move after he made friends at his new school wasn't helping. When they got to New York, Christopher only half unpacked his room. He used the cardboard boxes as tables and kept leaving his dirty plates on them when he was playing that 'league' game on his computer. Elena was very worried about Christopher. She hoped he would make some friends when he started at the STEM prep school in Queens.

In her dark and dreary house, Elena messaged Tony and they agreed to go out for an afternoon meal to catch up the next day. She was being responsible and he had a meeting he felt like blowing off. It would be like old times. Besides, his fiancée -a wonderful lady who is really good for Tony- was now CEO so he wasn't as important to the daily function of the company anymore. Their coffee meeting was mutually beneficial as she needed friends in New York and he needed friends period. His support system was always nonexistent and she needed to build one in this city so she wouldn't go more insane than she already was.

On Martin Luther King day, she put on her boots and a warm jacket and went into Manhattan to meet up with Tony at the Stark Industries New York headquarters. Before she went out, she reminded Christopher that there were some leftovers in the fridge, but she knew that he'd make the microwavable lasagna again. It snowed the night before so the commute was simultaneously much more beautiful and much worse than normal. The worst thing about New York in winter is that the dirty snow stains the back of everyone's pants. She'd have to get hers dry-cleaned tomorrow. Walking into the sleek, modern entrance of Tony's building, she headed straight to the receptionist. Within a few minutes, she got cleared to head up to Tony's personal office. As she was waiting for the elevator, A teenager in a graphic t-shirt came in the door and checked in at the desk.

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son. She stood frozen looking at this child going about their business completely unaware of a grieving mother in denial as she mentally photoshopped her son's face onto his body. It wasn't hard with this teen. He looked a lot like the most recent aged up photo of Julian. She opened up her wallet to look at the picture of what her 14-year-old would look like. This random kid looked eerily like him. Huh.

The kid walked to the elevator, saw that Elena had pushed the button to go up and went back to his phone. She really wanted to talk to this kid. A part of her, however foolish believed that this boy could be her son. It was so foolish of her to have a hope in her heart, but starting a conversation couldn't hurt. Adults love to ask teenagers what they're doing places.

"What's that on your shirt? A video game I'm assuming?" She asked him trying her very best to seem nonchalant and not creepy in any way.

"Uh yeah, Undertale." He replied clearly not too interested

Standing around looking at the geometric stone wall she asked, "What's that one about? I'm looking for a birthday gift for my son."

"I don't know if it's something you can give him ma'am. You have to buy it on Steam and since that's only online it can't really be wrapped so that's kind of hard to give and wrap prettily. I mean you could give him a gift card, but my aunt says that's an inconsiderate gift. I'm sorry If insulted you. I didn't mean to offend you've given a gift card. Not that I assumed you have- " He babbled, after putting his old phone into his jean pocket.

Wow that kid was talkative.

"No offense taken," Elena chuckled, "I guess that probably isn't the best gift for him then."

"Yeah, probably not."

"What are some popular video games for teen nowadays? My son likes this online game fantasy game. It has the word league in the title so that one's out. He still wants to be a professional gamer even though that's definitely out of the question until he graduates from college," She said pretending not to be too invested in the answer from the teenager who looked remarkably like her child.

"Wow. He wanted to go pro? I never had the money for that game. Or at least to be any good at it," Peter replied in awe.

"Money? I thought it was free." Elena questioned cocking her head to the side.

Did Christopher lie to her? He better not or he was going to be in so much trouble when she got home. She didn't want to give him any consequences because he was having such a hard time anyway, but actions like lying had consequences. Oh, she was already dreading that conversation. Maybe his consequence was that he had to be social, but making socializing a consequence was a bad idea parenting-wise.

"Well it's free initially but there are all these microtransactions that drive up the price so much. It's like all those freemium games. The same reason why I can't afford Fortnite, but also everyone playing Fortnite is in middle school.

Okay, so Christopher was kind of telling the truth.

"Oh what high school do you go to? Christopher's starting at one of the local schools tomorrow. Maybe you'll see each other in the hall," She said trying to subtly ask where he was going to school without being too creepy about it.

There was no real reason she should be privy to this info, but the kid looked so much like her lost child that she had to know.

"Midtown tech…In Queens."

"Small world! That's where he's transferring. His name is Christopher. Please be nice to him if you see him. He can be a bit awkward and I'm worried about him making friends. He can be social he just-"

She looked at the current floor and realized the kid was about to head out.

"What was your name?" Elena asked the boy standing beside her in the elevator.

He looked so much Julian that she had to know. Maybe just maybe this random kid was her kid. Maybe this would be the emotional reunion right out of a cheesy hallmark film.

"Uh, Peter. Peter Parker?" He said shyly reminding her so much of her little boy who hid behind her legs and cried instead of going to kindergarten.

The fact that he wasn't Julian was a little bit of a let down although she felt silly for feeling that way. Of course, her stolen child would have a different name anyway so there wasn't even a point to her asking.

"Can I give you a piece of advice?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"Be confident when you introduce yourself. You're a bright kid and a first impression is tantamount," she said gifting him something that it took her years to learn, "Own your name. Your parents gave it to you with pride."

"Uh, thanks. Who are you by the way? I don't mean to be rude. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are, and I guess this is how exchanging names works."

"Elena Davis. I'm on the board of directors for Magellan."

Peter's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Elena laughed.

"Are you doing like a business thing with Mister Stark?" he asked her in awe.

Tony would have been mortified in college if anyone called him that. Out of Peter's mouth, it was just adorable.

"No. Getting lunch with an old friend," Elena smiled "any recommendations?"

"I don't know the restaurants 'round here as much. I'm from Queens."

"Oh well," Elena heard the elevator ding and turned to the boy and said, "here's your stop, Peter."

The boy got off and waved to her.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Davis!" He smiled.

"Nice to meet you too Peter." She responded.

The elevator doors closed and Elena checked her phone to see what new things she had to address after her lunch break. That was a nice little conversation. She made a mental note to help Mr. Parker if he decided to work at her company instead of Tony's. It was kind of nepotism, but not really since the boy wasn't actually related to her. It was the opposite of meritocratic to help someone based upon their resemblance to a family member, but when she looked at the teenagers who resembled her child she didn't really care. She missed her son and if emotionally investing herself in random teenage boys was going to fill that hole then who was she to deny herself.

She stopped thinking about the conversation and switched gears to prepare to have dinner with Tony. They got along well, but he could be notoriously insensitive so everyone had to prepare a thick skin around him. He had also better decide on someplace good to eat. Hopefully not Sushi. There's nothing wrong with the cuisine, but every time she went out with her sister they went to the same place and she was just so tired of it.

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son. Maybe that split second lasted longer with Peter, but soon enough she was back to forgetting.


	3. Peter Looked at a Photo of His Parents

Every time Peter looked at a photo of his parents, he tried to see what parts he got from each of them. He looked like his mother a lot. They had similar noses, but not exact which was probably the bits he got from his dad. He had his dad's brown hair, but a little lighter. He definitely didn't have his mother's rich dark chocolate color. It was a little odd that his hair was as light as it was, but hair color wasn't one of those things that could be figured out through a Punnett square. Honestly, who knows. Genetics are weird. Both Peter's mother and father needed glasses so thankfully he hasn't needed those yet. Also, it was very good that he didn't have his father's childhood asthma or his mother's peanut allergy. May didn't have health insurance so any medical expense had to be avoided at all costs. Inheriting pieces of yourself from parents is nice, but sometimes it's for the best if it doesn't happen.

He wasn't always super careful about his health though. Acute stuff he managed just fine. If he got a black eye it would heal in a couple hours. Bruises took half an hour. That stuff was small fry and there was no need for Peter to sweat it. He was after all, the friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

After patrolling on Wednesday, Peter came home to four shoeboxes of old photos stacked on the dining table and aunt May going to battle with a glue stick against some faded polaroids. She stared intently at a photo carefully deciding where and how it should be placed. She put glue on the borders of the photo and then somehow accidently put it down sideways. Aunt May always wanted to be into scrapbooking. She never did it and was never really any good at it either, but every time she went into a craft store, she'd always buy something with the intention of using it, but nothing ever happened with the random borders and baubles.

Peter gently placed his backpack on the couch to avoid the chaos of May's fevered gluing. He always studied at the table, but he could adapt. The couch was way more comfortable than the tall dining chairs anyway.

Okay. Studying. Ready, set go.

Peter pulled out his Calculus textbook and sharpened his pencil in a newly bought hand sharpener that caught all the pencil shavings. He scrunched up his brow and tried to read the page and all the problems. He read the problem and started trying to solve it when he realized that he had to start again because he didn't really read the problem, so he had to see what it was really asking.

Okay, let's try this again. Ready, set, go.

Ready, set, go…

Alright. Peter had to start with different homework. Art was due tomorrow so that had to be done anyway. He could wait until the table was cleared for math.

Aunt May suddenly chimed in cooing at an old photo taken on glossy 4' by 6' photo paper, "Peter look at this one of you. You had such chubby little cheeks."

Peter walked over to see the photo. It was of him as an eight-year-old on ice skates in Rockefeller center. He was clutching the rail as people who could actually skate whizzed past him.

May picked up another photo.

"Aww this one's from when we first met you"

Peter looked over his aunt's shoulder to see a photo of him as a four-year-old in Uncle Ben's arms.

"I thought you guys knew me since I was born?"

"Uh no," May said as her body stiffened into a plywood board, "Ben wasn't speaking to Richard before then. They had a dramatic falling out when they were young. A couple years older than you actually. Funnily enough, Mary and I who reconnected them. We ran into one another a couple times volunteering at the soup kitchen and joked about having the same last name. Turns out wasn't much of a coincidence."

Peter opened his mouth to ask more, but May cut him off.

"I'll tell you the whole story later. I've got to get through at least half of these," She said gesturing to the leviathan of glitter and photos from 2002 as Peter rolled his eyes, "I will get through these. I know you don't believe me, but I will."

"Uh May," Peter timidly announced, "Could I have a space on the table to do my homework?"

"Oh right! Here take these two boxes and put them on the coffee table," May ordered as she scooped up part of the mountain of ribbons and stickers.

Peter took the old shoe boxes and put them down next to the displaced decorations. He took the lids off of the boxes and stole a peek inside.

Huh.

Every time Peter looked at a photo of his parents, he looked, but never saw. He rifled through the boxes some more.

"Aunt May, are these all the photos you have?"

"Yes,"

"Are there any from my mom and dad in here?"

"All of them are in there," May responded.

"Are you sure?" Peter gently interrogated.

"Positive. Peter, what's with all these weird questions?" May asked.

Peter grabbed one of the boxes and handed it to his aunt.

"I can't find any baby photos of me and It's weirding me out."

May looked puzzled at his while taking the box and responding "There's has to be some in there. There's no way there's no baby photos."

She looked through the old shoe container and her eyebrows scrunched to the middle as she concentrated and failed to find what she was looking for.

"Peter, could you grab the one off the coffee table?" Aunt May commanded as she started looking through the shoebox that she was gluing photos from.

After a quick sort, May conceded. There were no baby photos of Peter. Neither of them knew what to make of that. As, the mood for scrapbooking was gone, May packed up all the stuff by putting it into a plastic storage container.

The next day after school, Peter wanted to go superheroing and patrol the neighborhood, but MJ wanted to have a group study session and Ned volunteered Peter's place. It was going to be a small study session with only a couple people: Peter, MJ, Ned, Cindy, and Christopher.

Christopher, joined the school and the decathlon team a couple weeks ago. Peter was 99% sure he was the child of the woman he met that one time in the elevator when he was heading to the Stark internship -the real one-, but he wasn't going to bring that up. That would be weird and he didn't want to come across as weirder than he already was. Meeting that lady was surreal. It was super cool -how often does anyone meet a high up person at Magellan- but the interaction itself was kind of strange. Peter honestly had no idea how to react.

A flock of hungry teenagers descended upon the Parker residence in search of food and academic enlightenment. Instead of trying to cook them something, May had given up and just ordered them Pizza and some chips. Textbooks and study guides in one hand, cheap pizza in the other, they were ready to take on the world. Or at least the afternoon.

"This medieval African kingdom experienced significant economic prosperity due in large part to the gold trade," MJ read out loud.

Cindy rang her bell and answered "Kingdom of Mali."

"Ooh could we answer them Jeopardy style?" Ned asked.

Everyone decided to humor Ned. Besides it was more fun that way. After a truly breathtaking amount of questions, MJ was sitting upside down on the couch with her legs in the air and her head dangling down. Peter and Ned laid on the floor starfish style. Christopher was laying across with his feet up on MJ and Cindy was sitting sideways in the armchair.

"Is there any more Pizza? I'm really hungry," Peter whined.

"You've eaten over half of the pizza your aunt bought for us. How could you be more hungry?" MJ said.

"I can confirm that I am in a food coma," Ned added.

"I dunno. I'm just not full yet." Peter admitted.

"Go get some Doritos then. The bags already open," Cindy suggested.

"I don't really like them," Peter replied.

"Just go eat the food," Cindy said a little more irritated than she could probably justify being.

"It's a texture thing. It really bothers me. I freaked out when I was little when I tried them for the first time," Peter responded trying to say no without sounding like he was as picky as a toddler.

"I get it. I have the same thing with Doritos too," Christopher piped up.

Christopher had been awfully quiet the whole time so everyone was a bit startled when he said something.

He continued, "I just freak out whenever I touch them and I can't handle it. It's a sensory thing. Plus, the cheese powder sticks to your fingers and it's honestly the worst. I totally get it. No judgement coming from here."

The group sat in silence basking in their food induced drowsiness while Peter sat there trying to look normal while still feeling starving.

Out of the blue, Michelle perked up and stared at the faces of Christopher and Peter. She had that look on her face where she noticed something was off, but hadn't put together the conclusion yet. She was quite cute when making that face. Not that Peter was looking. He just thought she was cute in a totally platonic way.

"You two look really alike," She stated staring at the both of them.

Peter turned to look at Christopher and funnily enough they really did. They had similar hair colors; Christopher's was a bit lighter though. Their eyes were the same shape and their eyebrows looked remarkably similar. Weird.

"Wow it's kinda creepy how similar you guys look," Cindy chimed in.

"Their ears are different though. Christopher's lie flat against his head and Peter's stick out a lot more," Ned blurted.

"Thanks Ned," Peter deadpanned.

"Hey Peter, do you still have a DSi?" Christopher wondered.

"Yeah, I'd have to fish it out of my closet though."

"I remember them having this facial comparison thing in the photo app. We could use it to see whether the camera thinks we're related or not."

After a truly minimal amount of peer pressure, Peter got his old game console out of his room and loaded it up. With a hope and a prayer, they managed to turn the thing on and open up the right application. They were a 73% match: siblings. After that observation the conversation went completely off the rails.

"So, our current theories are: alien abduction, changelings, cloning, and Dickens character," Cindy announced recounting the last hour of conversation.

"The most plausible one is that Peter was adopted or that this was all one massive coincidence," Michelle pointed out.

Adoption. Wow, this conversation was hitting a lot closer to home than he was actually expecting it to. Maybe he was actually adopted. Maybe that was why there was no baby photos. That's actually a really reasonable explanation. Him and May just needed to find the adoption certificate then this whole thing would be explained.

"Yeah, but the realistic ones are boring. I like alien abduction," Cindy joked.

"I like Dickens character. We're in an updated Prince and the Pauper thing and there's no explanation for why you guys look alike at all," Ned said.

"Are we obligated to switch lives then? I don't really see the point for either of us doing that," Christopher asked.

"I think it'd be funny if you guys switched classes for a day," MJ butted in.

"We couldn't pull that off. We don't look that alike," Peter said.

"Maybe it's a switched at birth scenario," Ned blurted.

"Peter's two years older than Christopher," Cindy teased.

"There's always Cryofreezing," Ned suggested.

Eventually they moved on to other topics, but the group never really did get back to studying like they intended. Oh well. There was always next time.

Later that night Peter tried to go to bed, but every time he got close, he'd just start thinking about his parents and whether they were actually the Parkers or not. If he was adopted, who were his biological parents? They were probably nobody special, but who knows. Maybe it was a prince who couldn't admit he had a child out of wedlock because he'd lose his right to the throne. Maybe his mother was a farmhand in a far-off village in France. Maybe it was a tech giant who just couldn't have a child for her career. Maybe he was the kid of some kind couple from the Bronx who simply weren't ready for a child. Maybe he was the child of Tony Stark. Who knows? He was making all of this up in his head so it was silly fantasy anyway.

If he was adopted it reflected well on Mary and Richard Parker. Should he still call them Mom and Dad? They were so kind and generous to take a kid in who wasn't a baby. Peter had read about the decrease in adoption rate as kids got older so it was a miracle that he got adopted at all. If he was adopted that is.

He was taking this fantasy far too literally. It was way past Peter's bedtime and he had an early morning that Friday. He took a deep breath in and out and resolved to actually go to sleep.

Every time Peter looked at a photo of his parents, he would try and see which parts he got from each of them, but maybe he was asking the wrong question. Maybe he didn't get anything at all.


End file.
